The winter started pretty well, snow was starting to fall in Tirol and my legs were getting strong. I just turned 31 and january was supposed to be an awesome month.
As it was my first season in Kuhtai, I was mostly riding alone. In this resort of Tirol is the family type, you can shred all day off-piste without seing a soul. It was a pretty day with a descent snowpack, a rare thing in this early season. The sun was playing hide and seek with the cloud. I arrived on the top of the lift and a field came in front of me. I didn’t see it before cause of the deep cloud, but at this moment the sun showed me the way. Maybe I was too excited, or too hungry of fresh tracks. I gained speed, enjoyed every turn and started pumping, pumping to do a descent face-shoot. Suddenly, I was upside down. A strong pain in my right ankle, a medium pain in the left. I met a lonely shark, probably sad to be cover for a long winter, it came to see hi. I could feel something was wrong, not the usual tumble I use to have. Something broke.
As the first rule of freeriding is to never ride alone, I sat here lonely as fuck in a middle of a field, no mate in sight. No way I was gonna take my binding off and climb up, so I started to ride down. To be more precise, my riding were closer to a beginner on slope, but this time it was in 1 meter of freshy. Along the way, I entered a nice couloir with pillow on the left and the right. Like if the universe wanted to tease me and showing me the potential of my unborn run. Finally arrived at the bottom, there were a flat track to cross. Grateful to havent injured too much my left ankle I start to push, when a skier came to my help and pulled me out of my misery.
After that, it was the classic scenario: Doctor, Xray, ambulance, Hospital, doctor again, Xray again and again for finally waiting to get a spot for an operation. Innsbruck is a perfect place for a winter hospital, surrounded by mountain, it is the normal destination for ski and snowboard injured. Sadly for me, an ankle wasn’t the most urgent operation there were, and here I was, standing for day, listening to the helicopter landing on the roof every hour with an other victim of her passion.
The operation went well, a few pin in my ankle and a cast for 6 weeks and I should be ready to train again. So my winter was off, it just started and I was off. First time in 11 years, I was away of the alps for the winter.
My personal nurse, Mirte van Dijk, came to get me and took me to flatland for a force rest. Time to focus on something else, try to stay away of social network and the millions of Winter sport page I follow, lets start to work on our future.
Summer is here. My cast is off, my ankle is nearly back. Just need to take off this ridiculous pins of my body and I will be ready to shred again. I am close to the sea now, down south. life is good there and I think I want to stay south, probably Andorra. Next winter will be the best ever, and I need a fresh start for that.
Enjoy the ride!
